EDITORIAL: Poor being exploited

A tax evasion case involving an operator of cheap lodgings for people on welfare has shed light on the seamy side of businesses for the needy.

The Nagoya Regional Taxation Bureau filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors against the head of FIS, which operates 21 lodging houses in five prefectures, and two of its executives. The three are accused of violating the Income Tax Law by hiding 500 million yen in taxable income over three years.

Operating under the Social Welfare Law, FIS offered free or low-priced rooms for rent. Some 14,000 people currently reside in 439 such registered facilities nationwide. More than 1,000 unregistered facilities exist around the country.

Typically, these facilities are nothing more than former company dormitories remodeled for the purpose of providing food and lodging to homeless people. The number of such lodgings has increased sharply as a growing number of homeless people are granted welfare benefits.

Many lodgings are operated conscientiously by nonprofit organizations. Setting up a facility is as simple as registering with a local government. This offers an opportunity for unscrupulous businesses to sponge off people's welfare benefits.

Typically, FIS divides six-mat rooms into two by using a plywood board. Meals consist mostly of instant noodles or precooked retort pouch fare. Some residents use earphones when watching TV to avoid annoying others with the sound. Residents pay about 90,000 yen ($999) per month from the 120,000 yen they receive in welfare benefits.

Can facilities such as these really help people in distress rebuild their lives?

Various problems have cropped up around the nation. In the city of Chiba, a former resident of an FIS-affiliated lodging facility has filed a criminal complaint with the police, alleging that the operator opened a bank account under his name without permission and deducted the fees from his welfare benefits paid into the account.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare should look into the conditions of such facilities and publish the names of crooked operators.

What needs to be faced, however, is the grim reality of the government's policy for dealing with the problem of poverty. Too often, the government has relied on private operators of such facilities, including those preoccupied with making a profit.

Fewer local governments are taking a tough stance against applicants for welfare benefits. There are now 1.6 million people on the dole, up from 900,000 in 1995.

There is a serious shortage of caseworkers to help these people regain their financial independence. There is also a shortage of public shelters and affordable public housing.

Ideally, one caseworker should handle 80 needy households. But in Nagoya, for instance, each caseworker is in charge of 120 households. Caseworkers are having a hard time meeting the tasks required of them: helping so many people to find affordable housing and employment so they can rebuild their lives.

Unscrupulous businesses have taken advantage of the gap created by the welfare system.

In October, the welfare ministry set up a task force to tackle this problem. The team needs to devise effective measures to crack down on pernicious operators. Subsidies should be offered to facilities that do good work.

There is a crucial need to improve the quality of such facilities. The welfare ministry should also work with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to ensure that more affordable public housing becomes available. Even if it is financially difficult to build new public housing, the government could surely rent vacant apartments for the purpose.

The social assistance program is the final social safety net. Unless the government starts providing follow-up support for welfare recipients, there will be many more vicious organizations that prey on people on welfare.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 1